parents as teachers Archives

Sep 30 2025

Teaching Our Children Executive Functioning Skills

As teachers prepare to support students this coming school year, they are consciously considering how to incorporate the 10 executive functioning skills in daily classroom activities. Summarized below are activities that I use daily in my classroom to shape executive functioning skills to ensue my students are successful with classroom routines and self-management: [Read more…]

Melissa Donahoe

Melissa has been an educator for over 20 years, and has spent the largest block of her teaching career in second grade, with additional experience in Grades 1 through 4.

After graduating from the University of Nevada with a Bachelor of Science Degree in education, with a dual degree in special education, Melissa traveled through Europe. Ms. Donahoe taught her first teaching assignment at a Department of Defense School in Germany. Following her husband’s military career, she also taught at a Title 1 school in Ft. Lewis, and finally landed in Silicon Valley, where she has taught for the past 16 years.

Melissa trained with the Noyce Foundation’s Writer’s Workshop. She has served as a Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) coach at her school, where she facilitated curiosity and a love for learning among her students.

Melissa developed a passion for biodiversity after visiting Monterey Bay Aquarium with her nephew. She adopted a sea otter mascot named “Loutre” and discovered her fascination with ocean health, imparting to her students the relationship between sea otters and their critical role in maintaining healthy kelp forests. Along with ocean health, Melissa inspires awareness among her students about microplastics in the environment. She is a follower of the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots program and believes that small changes at home can foster activism that leads to healthy life habits.

Melissa has a daughter who is a junior in high school and a son who is attending his second year of college at the University of Nevada.

Sep 02 2025

Teaching Kids How to Be Kind

School is starting and our children will be learning new classroom management procedures with their new teachers in the next few weeks. Many of the classroom management procedures we use at our school stress being respectful and supportive to our classmates and our teacher. As a substitute teacher, I work very hard to be kind to all around me. This past summer, my grandkids observed me while I was very patient and considerate to service employees while vacationing. I extended these same acts of kindness to the grocery store staff, bank staff, restaurant personnel, and shoe store staff. I find that when I consciously act kinder to my family, friends, and community members, I am treated with more respect. I also consciously modeled this healthy behavior with my grandkids when they stayed with us in the summer. I was thrilled when my grandkids commended me for this healthy behavior!

Applying Kindness at School

As a substitute teacher, I created a variety of reading and writing learning modules for primary grade students that include human acts of kindness with the following topics:

Family Values and Classroom Team Building
Goal Setting and Extreme Weather
Rattlesnakes and Venomous Snakes
Winter Weather and Gratitude
Bios of Famous People
Solar System and Earth Day
Soil, Conservation, and Waste Management
Fractional Relationships Through Art
Resume Writing
How to Self-Publish and Enter Writing Contests

[Read more…]

Mary Ann Burke, Digital Education Expert

Mary Ann Burke, Ed.D., Digital Education Expert, is a substitute distance learning teacher for Oak Grove School District in San Jose, California and the author of STUDENT-ENGAGED ASSESSMENT: Strategies to Empower All Learners (Rowman & Littlefield: 2020). Dr. Burke creates digital language arts and substitute teaching K – 12 activities for teachers and parents. She is the Cofounder of the Genparenting.com blog. Burke is the former Director II of Categorical & Special Projects for the Santa Clara County Office of Education that supports 31 school districts serving 272,321 students in Santa Clara County. She is also a previous Director – State & Federal Compliance for Oakland Unified School District, the former Director – Grantwriter for the Compton Unified School District, and was the initial VISTA Director for the Community Partnership Coalition in southern California. Much of her work focuses on creating innovative digital trainings and partnership programs for teachers and families to support students’ learning. These programs were featured as a best practice at a National Title I Conference, California’s Title I Conferences, AERA Conferences, an ASCD Conference, the NASSP Conference, and statewide educator conferences.

Aug 19 2025

Beyond Backpacks: Setting Up for School Success (Part 2)

As summer starts to wrap up and the back-to-school excitement kicks in, most of us are thinking about new backpacks, fresh school supplies, and meeting this year’s teacher. Those things matter—but there’s something even more important that often gets missed: executive function skills. These behind-the-scenes brain skills are what really help kids start the year strong, no matter what grade they’re in. In my last blog, I described how parents can help their children establish routines, get organized, and make time tangible. This blog explains how parents can help their children become more flexible, manage impulses, and develop a working memory. [Read more…]

Alison Whiteley

Alison Whiteley has been a special education teacher for over 15 years, spending most of her time working with elementary students and families. After graduating from the University of Colorado with a Bachelor of Arts in Special Education and Psychology, she continued her education with a Masters in Reading from Walden University. In addition, she has achieved endorsements supporting Early Childhood Special Education and Diverse Learners which she uses to help identify needs across all learners.

Ms. Whiteley is trained in Wilson Reading System and Yoshimoto Orton-Gillingham. She believes all students can learn to read and be successful. She has served as a Special Education Coach and Mentor to fellow specialists and teachers, facilitated the creation of her elementary school’s Response to Intervention/Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (RTI/MTSS) process and helped parents through the Special Education process as IEP Coach for parents. In 2013 she completed the National Boards of Professional Teaching in Exceptional Needs with recertification in 2022. Her areas of expertise involve working with students with learning disabilities, supporting stakeholders moving through the special education process, and helping parents and teachers understand what they can do to support struggling learners in the public school settings.

She is a founding member of the Colorado Reading League and a member of the International Dyslexia Association in Colorado. Alison has two greyhounds and two nephews who keep her busy outside of school. She is the CEO of Toad-ally Exceptional Learners at http://www.toad-allyexceptionallearners.com. Alison is a valuable source of information to support teachers and parents, although she is not a lawyer and does not give legal advice. Her services support families through the IEP process and how they can be an equal member of the team through positive interactions. She focuses on collaboration and using tools to take IEPs to the new level of helping students achieve.

www.GenParenting.com

Aug 05 2025

Beyond Backpacks: Setting Up for School Success (Part 1)

Alison Whiteley

www.GenParenting.com

Jul 22 2025

Summer Boundaries for Kids!

It is summer and children are filled with enthusiasm and passion for adventure and wanting to try new experiences. Many parents struggle with how to keep their children healthy and happy during long summer days. Some families schedule many summertime activities and camps for their children. Others reinforce a more relaxed lifestyle with some special family planned activities and lots of free time for exploring. Some children are busy with sports activities while others spend endless hours playing online games and watching television. Summarized below are five considerations for family fun with a balance of structure and free play activities.

Keeping Balance in Daily Life

It is difficult to balance each child’s daily schedule when planning camps, sports activities, and family play. Some children thrive with lots of scheduled activities while others are overwhelmed and need lots of free time to relax and decompress from daily life. When our kids are overscheduled or bored, they fight more and are more anxious about daily life. Identifying an appropriate balance of activities for each child’s temperament and personality can be challenging for parents. Some helpful strategies include:

Help each child identify 1 to 3 activities for summer play and make a plan to complete each activity.
Adjust the daily schedule when activities are exhausting to allow time to relax and rest.
Keep family life simple and relaxed during days of busy schedules.

[Read more…]

Mary Ann Burke, Digital Education Expert